Complexities of care in insect-human relations

Abstract

What ethico-politics are we complicit in when we eat insects? Or produce them for feed? In this article we think through underexplored ideas of human-insect response-abilities, or ‘care’ in the acts of ‘producing’ insects that are to be: eaten by humans or non-humans; or, enrolled in eating other species for environmental ‘management’. Rather than merely passive recipients of human care, we think through insect agency to highlight the affective capacities of insects in acts of human to more-than-human reciprocal care. Drawing on a qualitative study of diverse insect-work in Aotearoa New Zealand, we demonstrate how insects are recognised as active in their caregiving processes, and what this might mean for our right relations with insects.